Drawbar yoke



J. A. LAMONT.

DRAWBAR YOKE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 6. 1918.

Patented Apr. 11, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. LAMONT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB- TO AMERICAN STEEL FOUNDRIES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

DRAWBAR YOKE.

Application filed May 6,

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, JOHN A. LAMONT, a citizen of the United States, residing at O'hicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drawbar Yokes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a draw bar yoke.

One of theobjects of this invention is to obtain maximum shoulder engagement between a draw bar yoke and coupler butt under conditions where there is a variation in dimensions.

Another object is to provide a novel draw bar yoke adapted to meet the requirements of service conditions.

These and other objects are accomplished by providing, in combination, a yoke having an arm with a shoulder thereon, said arm being capable of being sprung, a coupler having a butt with a shoulder thereon, and a band for drawing the shoulder of said arm into locking engagement with the shoulder of said butt.

The invention is illustrated on .the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a yoke'embodying my invention and connected to a coupler shank;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, and Figure 3 a front elevation of the same.

Referring to the figures of the drawing it will be noted that I have provided a coupler yoke 10 having upper and lower members 11 and 12 connected at their rear by a transverse member 13, and intermediate their ends by transverse members 14 and 15. Extending forwardly from the transverse member 15 and forming extensions of the members 11 and 12, are arms 16 and 17, respectively, having shoulders 18 and 19, respectively, formed thereon. This yoke is adapted to receive between the arms 16 and 17 the butt 20 of a coupler shank 21, said butt having shoulders 22 and 23, respectively, for engagement with the shoulders 18 and 19.

Due to shrinkage and othercauses, there is not always a maximum engagement between the shoulders on the arms and coupler butt. In order to at all times obtain and maintain the maximum engagement between the shoulders in question, I have sprung the arms 16 and 17 toward each other into a position where there is maximum shoulder engagement, there being originally Specification of Letters Iat'ent. Patented Apr. 11, 1922.

Serial No. 232,760.

sufiicient space between the arms 16 and 17 to accommodate a coupler butt which may be considerably larger than the one herein shown. In order to maintain a maximum shoulder engagement, I have provided a band 24 which is received by a groove 25 in the-forward part of arm 16, said band extending downwardly at the sides of the yoke and being bent laterally inward near its lowerends to conform with the tapered edges26 of the front portion of the arm 17, said arm being provided with a downwardly extending projection 27. The ends of the band 24 are provided with apertures 28, and the projection 27 is also provided with an aperture 29 through which a bolt 30 may pass. After passing the bolt 30 through the openings 28 and 29, a nut 31 may be drawn up on the bolt for drawing the band tightly around the arms and draw. ing the ends of the band toward each other to maintain the shoulders in their position of maximum engagement.

It will be noted that the transverse member or strut 15 defines the lengths of the arm portions 16 and 17 which are designed to be drawn towards one another, and also .this strut maintains the yoke arm portions in rear of the strut in parallelism during and after the drawing together of the arms 16 and 17. It is important to maintain in parallelism the yoke arm portions in rear of the strut 15 so as to avoid crowding of said yoke arm portions towards and against the spring or friction draft rigging elements which may be located within the yoke.

lVhat I claim as new is:

1. A draft connection comprising in combination a coupler shank having a shouldered butt, a yoke embracing the coupler shank and provided with a strut connecting the sides of the yoke adjacent and in rear of the shank, the arm portions of the yoke in front of the strut being shouldered and bent into cooperative relation with the shouldered butt of the shank, the yoke arm portions in rear of the strut being in substantial parallelism, and a band embracing the yoke arms and the shankin front of the shouldered engagement of the yoke and shank to maintain said parts in their cooperative relation.

2. A draft yoke provided with a strut connecting the yoke arms near the front of the yoke, the yoke arm portions in front of c and provided the strut capable of being orawn towards one another and provided with inner shoulders located between the strut and the front end of the yoke, and means for drawing said yoke arm portions towards one another including a split band embracing said yoke arm portions in front of the shoulders and provided with means for drawing together the ends of the band, the strut maintaining in substantial parallelism the yoke arm portions in rear of the strut.

3. A draft yoke provided with a strut connecting the yoke arms near the front of the yoke, the arm portions in front of the strut capable of being drawn towards one another with inner shoulders located between the strut and the front end of the yoke, the lower arm portion being provided with a depending projection, and means to draw together the front end portions of the yoke arms and comprising a split band embracing the yoke arms in front of the shoulders and a bolt and nut to draw together the ends of the band, the band having cam portions to engage one of the yoke arms and force said arm towards the other yoke arm, the ends of the band and the projection on the yoke having openings to receive the bolt, the strut maintaining in substantial parallelism the yoke arm portions in rear of the strut;

4. A draft yoke provided near its front ends with internal shoulders, the upper yoke arm having a transverse groove in front of the shoulder thereon, the lower arm having a depending projection in front of its shoulder, said pro ection having an opening extending transversely of the yoke, and a strut connecting the forward portions of the yoke in rear of the internal shoulders and spaced therefrom to accommodate the liner block butt end of a coupler shank between the shoulders and the strut, the yoke arm portions in front of the strut capable of being bent towards one another, and said strut maintaining in parallelism the yoke arm portions in rear of the strut during and after the bending of the front end portions of the yoke arms. a

5. A draft connection comprising in combination, a coupler shank, a yoke embracing the coupler shank and provided with a strut connecting the sides of the yoke adjacent and in rear of the shank, yoke in front of the strut being bent into cooperative pulling engagement with the shank, the yoke arm portions in rear of the strut being in substantial parallelism, and means detachably carried by the yoke independently of the shank and in front of the pulling engagement between the yoke and shank for drawing the yoke arms into cooperative relation with the shank.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 12 day of April, 1918.

JOHN A. LAMONT.

WVitnesses v FREDERIC H. BENDER, WM. BADGER.

the arm portions of the 

